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The Black Diamond »Enigma«
Photo: Leon Neal/Getty Images
The largest cut diamond in the world has been auctioned for 3.8 million euros.
The 555.55-carat black stone called "The Enigma" changed hands at an online auction, according to the London auction house Sotheby's.
The rare stone, a so-called carbonado, was recently publicly exhibited for the first time in Dubai, Los Angeles and London.
Its unnamed owner had never shown the jewel, which is entered in the Guinness Book of Records, in the past 20 years.
»The Enigma« has been expertly cut to have 55 facets and the shape of the palm-shaped Hamsa symbol, which represents power and protection in the Gulf region.
Experts suspect that the rare black diamond was formed more than 2.6 billion years ago when a meteorite or asteroid hit Earth.
Before the auction, Sotheby's had touted the diamond as a "cosmic miracle".
»The price of ›Enigma‹ has not quite reached intergalactic dimensions.
But there's no denying that 'Enigma' is a diamond like no other,' said Tobias Kormind, Managing Director of Europe's largest online jeweller, Mayfair.
kim/AFP
